Re-employment of Retired Civil Service Employees

Mr Desmond Choo asked the Prime Minister in each of the past three years (a) what is the percentage of retired and re-employed Civil Service employees who have been given one year and multiple-year contracts respectively; (b) what is the percentage of Civil Service employees not given a second re-employment contract after the first re-employment contract; and (c) how is the Civil Service helping employees who wish to continue working but are not offered re-employment contracts.

Between 2015 and 2017, nine in 10 officers in the Civil Service who retired and wished to continue working were re-employed at age 62. Seventy-seven percent of these officers were re-employed on multiple-year contracts. Twenty-two percent of them were re-employed on one-year contracts. The remaining officers were re-employed on contracts of less than one-year duration with mutual agreement between the officers and their agencies. Of the officers who were re-employed on one-year contract at age 62, 87% continued to be re-employed in the following year.

The Public Service Re-employment Guidelines take reference from the Tripartite Guidelines on the Re-employment of Older Employees, including the guidelines on employment assistance to officers who wished to continue working but were not offered re-employment. As a best practice, agencies will work with these officers to find alternative employment, which may include referring them to vacancies within the Public Service and providing career resources and refresher training to facilitate officers' search for jobs.